BEIRUT — Turkey said Wednesday it launched deadly
strikes against Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria, where Kurd forces have been
left reeling from the largest Daesh attack in nearly three years.
اضافة اعلان
The raids on Tuesday night targeted shelters, tunnels,
caves, ammunition depots, bases, and training camps operated by the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the People's Protection Units (YPG) which
Ankara views as terrorist groups, the Turkish defense ministry said.
The
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the
Syria strikes hit a Kurdish-run power station near the town of Al-Malikiyah in
Hasakeh province, where a brazen jailbreak attempt by Daesh militants last
month sparked days of clashes that have left hundreds dead.
"At least four people were killed in the strike
targeting a power station near Al-Malikiyah," the Britain-based
Observatory said.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish
administration's de facto army, said four of its fighters died in the attack
and vowed vengeance against Turkey.
Later on Wednesday, shelling on the Turkish-held city of
Al-Bab in northern Syria killed eight people, including five civilians,
according to the observatory.
The war monitor didn't specify who was responsible but
Kurdish forces and Syrian regime troops are both deployed in the region.
In northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, Turkish
strikes on Tuesday hit PKK positions in the Makhmur and Sinjar regions, where
bombardment caused "human and material losses", Kurdish authorities
said, without specifying a casualty toll.
As part of the attack, which drew condemnation from Baghdad,
Turkish "military aircraft bombarded six PKK positions in the Karjokh
mountains", which overlook a camp for Kurdish refugees from Turkey,
Kurdish counter-terrorism services said in a statement.
A PKK-linked group that oversees management of the camp
reported "the death of two combatants and dozens of injuries among camp
residents".
In a statement, Iraqi security forces condemned the attack
which they called a violation of Iraqi airspace.
It called on Ankara "to put an end to these
violations," and said "Iraq is fully prepared to cooperate (with
Ankara) to stabilize the situation on the border."
'Take action'
Designated as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western
allies, the PKK has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since
1984.
The YPG — which forms the backbone of the SDF fighting Daesh
in Syria — is viewed by Ankara as the PKK's Syria offshoot.
Washington relied heavily on the SDF to defeat Daesh
fighters who overran large swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014.
The SDF said 40 of its fighters as well as more than 70
prison guards and staff were killed in the week-long Daesh attack on Ghwayran
jail, the group's largest Syria operation since 2019.
The YPG condemned the latest Turkish strikes.
"Turkey tries to continue what ISIS started," it
said on Twitter, using a different acronym for Daesh.
"Everyone has to take action against this attack
now."
The Turkish strike came hours after hundreds of mourners
gathered in Al-Malikiyah for mass funerals honoring Kurdish fighters killed in
a week of battles with Daesh terrorists who had attacked the Ghwayran jail on
January 20.
Since the start of its military intervention in Syria in
2016, Ankara has sporadically bombed the YPG and carried out military
operations on the ground targeting Daesh and Kurdish forces.
Turkey also routinely carries out attacks in Iraq, where the
PKK has bases and training camps in the Sinjar region and on the mountainous
border with Turkey.
Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has threatened
to "clean up" parts of northern Iraq, accuses the PKK of using the
border area as a springboard for its insurgency.
In December, Turkey carried out retaliatory air strikes in
northern Iraq after three Turkish soldiers died in a PKK attack.
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